Ship Lifecycle Services — Retrofits, Upgrades & Life Extensions
Elomatic Marine keeps vessels competitive through their full lifetime. Ship inspections, environmental retrofits, conversions, life extensions, and Ablemans LCS.
Keeping a vessel competitive throughout its lifetime takes more than routine maintenance. Regulations tighten, fuel options multiply, and the pressure to improve energy efficiency only grows. Whether you are planning the next dry docking, evaluating a major retrofit, or extending the service life of a vessel in good structural condition, we provide the technical support to do it right.
Our lifecycle services cover everything from initial ship inspections and upgrade strategy through engineering, classification, and site execution. For end-to-end ship-specific lifecycle delivery, we work together with Ablemans LCS, which joined Elomatic in January 2025.
Key Takeaways
- We support shipowners across the full vessel lifecycle — from condition assessments and dry dock planning to retrofits, conversions, and life extensions.
- Ablemans LCS, member of Elomatic group, delivers end-to-end ship-specific lifecycle services with execution capability across vessel types.
- Environmental retrofits address SOx, NOx, and emissions requirements, as well as energy efficiency improvements such as hull modifications and waste heat recovery.
- Ship inspections give you a documented assessment of technical condition, energy saving opportunities, and a basis for upgrade planning.
- We manage projects from feasibility study and classification approval through detail design, procurement, and site assistance.
Ablemans LCS — part of Elomatic
Ablemans LCS joined Elomatic in January 2025, bringing decades of hands-on shipbuilding and dry dock experience. Together, we offer shipowners seamless support from engineering through execution – combining Ablemans’ refit and technical service capability with Elomatic’s ship design and sustainability expertise.
Ablemans LCS services include:
- Ship-specific lifecycle service plans: condition monitoring, documentation, and reporting
- Conversion and retrofit projects – turn-key planning and execution to classification, shipowner, and yard requirements
- Engineering and technical support: feasibility studies, naval architecture, drawings, classification collaboration
- New building support: piping, ventilation, steel work, and outfitting
- Products: fire screen and watertight doors, cabin and bridge windows, water filters and pump units, valves, ventilation ducts, lighting, gangways, prefabricated pipes, BESS, and plate & shell heat exchangers
Ship inspections
Before committing to any upgrade or retrofit, you need a clear picture of the vessel’s actual technical condition. Our inspection service brings together specialists across all relevant disciplines to assess the current state of the ship and identify the best opportunities for improvement.
The inspection covers the technical condition of systems and equipment, energy saving potential, and ESG reporting support.
We follow a structured process:
- Define the goal and scope of the inspection
- Gather background data on the vessel
- Conduct the onboard inspection with a multidisciplinary team
- Compile findings into a report with identified shortcomings and recommended improvements
The result is a documented basis for your upgrade and dry dock planning, not a generic checklist, but a vessel-specific assessment tied to your operational requirements.
Environmental and energy retrofits
Tightening IMO regulations and growing pressure to improve CII and EEXI performance are pushing shipowners to act. We help you identify the right technical measures for your fleet and implement them efficiently.
Our retrofit scope covers:
- Emission control equipment: SOx scrubbers, SCR for NOx, particle filters, and ballast water treatment systems
- Energy efficiency upgrades: waste heat recovery, battery packs for peak shaving, and power management improvements
- Hydrodynamic performance improvements: bulbous bow modifications, ducktails, interceptors, and Elogrid™ tunnel thruster grids
- Alternative fuel conversions: LNG, methanol, and other lower-emission fuel system modifications
Every retrofit starts with an assessment of the options relevant to your specific vessel and trading pattern. We then manage the full project: laser scanning of the existing environment, basic design and classification, detail engineering, procurement support, and site assistance through completion.
Conversions, refurbishments, and life extensions
When a vessel’s systems are outdated, its earning potential can be extended significantly through a well-planned conversion or refurbishment. We work across the full scope – from passenger ship facelifts to machinery modernization and ship lengthening.
Typical project types:
- Refurbishment of accommodation and public areas on passenger vessels – from visible surfaces through to the electrical and HVAC systems behind them
- Machinery modernization to extend service life and improve efficiency
- Ship lengthening to increase cargo capacity, supported by full structural and hydrostatic analysis
- System-level conversions covering piping, HVAC, electrical, and safety systems
These projects involve all ship design disciplines and require close coordination with classification societies. We manage the full process from scope definition and basic design through detail design, prefabrication documentation, and construction support.
Site assistance
Complex retrofit and conversion projects need experienced people on the ground. We provide site teams with specialists across all ship design disciplines, backed by the full resources of our engineering offices.
Our site service covers long-term assignments in shipyard site offices, short inspection visits, participation in factory acceptance tests, and subcontractor inspections. The site team has direct access to our office specialists, which means technical questions get answered quickly without delays to the project schedule.
Planning your next dry docking or upgrade project?
Tell us about your vessel and your goals and we will outline the right approach.
